Town Hall preps parents, students for school

Casey Elementary School principal Shelly Kennedy speaks to parents and students during an Aug. 17 school town hall meeting at Camp Casey's Community Activity Center. Improving reading and math skills are two key academic goals the school will pursue during the coming school year, Kennedy said. " U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Troth

Casey Elementary School principal Shelly Kennedy speaks to parents and students during an Aug. 17 school town hall meeting at Camp Casey's Community Activity Center. Improving reading and math skills are two key academic goals the school will pursue during the coming school year, Kennedy said. " U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Troth

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CAMP CASEY, South Korea -- Improving reading and math skills are two vital goals the Casey Elementary School will pursue during the coming school year, its principal told Area I parents and students during a Back to School Town Hall Aug. 17.

Nearly 150 parents and students attended the meeting at Camp Casey's Community Activity Center, where principal Shelly Kennedy gave her audience key information about the new school year, which starts Aug. 27.

"This year, year number three for Casey Elementary, we are predicting will be our best year yet," Kennedy told the audience.

"We are no longer a new school, we are an established school," she said. "And we are going to do everything we can to provide your child with the best education they can get."

The school, which teaches pre-school disabled to eighth grade, plans to do this by improving both math and reading skills of its almost 400 students.

"We have two improvement goals for this year, improve their reading and improve their math skills," said Kennedy. "And it is not just improving the reading. It is important that they know what they are reading and understand that content."

Among ways they'll pursue those goals are through competitions in geography, spelling and math.

Kennedy told parents that attendance was important, and asked them to tell the school ahead of time if a student would be missing class for an extended period of time "so we can keep your student up-to-date while they are gone."

She also outlined activities students can look to be involved in -- the student council, history club, yearbook club. choir and band.

And Kennedy gave them information about the school's hours, lunch schedule, bus service, and secure website, Casey Wolf Net, where the school calendar, assignments and grades are posted.

"Grades four to eight get letter grades which are posted online," said Kennedy. "The beauty of our program is that parents set the standards, they can put a trigger in, asking for an email if their child's grade drops below a certain grade. If a B is the lowest you want, then you set that trigger."

Sani Williams is looking forward to using the Casey Wolf Net to track her fifth-grader daughter Elizabeth's first year at Casey Elementary School.

"We are newcomers so it was nice to hear from the principal," said Williams. "This meeting was very informative and answered everything that I wanted to know for the upcoming year," she said.

After the town hall, Elizabeth got a chance to ask her new principal a few questions.

"I asked her if we have AR [Accelerated Reading] and I asked her if we have PE [Physical Education], and we do," said Elizabeth. "I also asked her what different things we have to do besides classes.

"We have library, health, PE and a bunch of other stuff," she said.

Col. John M. Scott, commander, U.S. Army Garrison Red Cloud and Area I, also spoke to the town hall audience.

"I think the town hall is a wonderful opportunity for both the families, the Soldiers and the civilians to get together and kick off the academic school year," Scott said.

"We have a dedicated community that really cares about the welfare of our students," he said.

To watch the taped Back to School Town Hall, visit the U.S. Army Garrison Red Cloud UStream page at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/24762551.